CLOONEY FOUNDATION TO MONITOR COURT TRIALS
WASHINGTON— A justice foundation created by George and Amal Clooney is set to announce on Wednesday a global initiative called TrialWatch to monitor court trials where there’s a risk of abuse and to rank countries’ judicial systems.
Working with the Columbia Law School and the American Bar Association, the TrialWatch initiative will train an international network of
court monitors, including nonlawyers, whose reports will be used by legal experts to grade trials according to international standards, several lawyers and academics involved with TrialWatch said.
“Today, courts all over the world are used as tools of oppression. Governments get away too easily with imprisoning opposition figures, silencing critics and persecuting vulnerable groups through the courts. Trial monitoring will shine a light on these abuses,” Amal said in a statement.
Amal, who married the Oscar-winning actor George in 2014, is an international law and human rights lawyer who has been a visiting professor at Columbia Law School since 2015.
She and her husband launched the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which focuses on promoting justice in courtrooms and elsewhere, in 2016.
One of her high-profile cases included representing Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.